New Delhi, Nov. 5 (PTI): India will ask Pakistan to claim the bodies of the two militants killed in an encounter here on Sunday despite Islamabad’s refusal to admit they were Pakistani nationals.

Delhi police have informed the home ministry about the identity and nationality of the Lashkar-e-Toiba militants killed at the Ansal Plaza.

The two were on a mission to kill shoppers on Diwali eve, joint commissioner of police (special cell) Neeraj Kumar said.

The home ministry would take up the matter with the external affairs ministry to ask Pakistan to claim the two bodies.

The militants have been identified as Dawood Ali Ahmed alias Abu Anans of Kasoor in Pakistan’s Punjab province and Azhar of Gujranwala city also in the same province.

Brushing aside Pakistan’s disclaimers, Kumar said specific details about the place of origin of the two militants have been provided.

The bodies will be disposed off any time after post-mortem on expiry of 72 hours from the day of their killing, if there are no claimants.

The post-mortem has not been conducted on the bodies at the mortuary in the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) as “we are waiting for any claimants. But after passage of 72 hours, we will go ahead with post-mortem”, he said.

The five Pakistani militants killed in Parliament attack on December 13, 2001,were buried here after nobody claimed their bodies. According to the procedure, the bodies are handed over to the Wakf Board for the final rites if there is no claimant. External affairs ministry sources said they have not received any communication from the home ministry about the bodies.

The moment such communication reaches the MEA it would get in touch with the Pakistani High Commission for forwarding it to Pakistan, the sources said.

Kumar said investigations revealed that the terrorists were in constant touch with the LeT’s so-called “Launching Commander” Azam Cheema, who operates from Bahawalpur industrial area in Pakistan.

Cheema is responsible for all activities undertaken by LeT cadre anywhere in India, except Jammu and Kashmir for which they have a separate “Launching Commander”. Diaries recovered from the terrorists had entries in Urdu and Pakistani telephone numbers, he said.

adding these also had a matrix detailing procedure for deciphering coded information received by them from their commander from time to time.

Kumar said the terrorists were continuously exploring possibilities of striking religious installations or functions to cause communal flare-up, crowded places such as markets to create panic and sensitive buildings.

“As far as the plan to attack Ansal Plaza on Diwali eve is concerned, their objective was two-fold – to cause communal flare-up and create panic,” he said.